Business News: Chevy Volt big money loser for General Motors

(CBS) - The popular Chevy Volt is a big money loser for General Motors. GM sold 13-thousand volts this year, making it the top-selling electric car in the nation. The car sells for about 40-thousand dollars. But some auto-pricing websites and dealers say the brisk sales are driven mostly by steep discounts often as high as 25-percent. GM says it declined to give numbers for discounts or losses.

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(CBS) - American Airlines says it expects to avoid laying off any flight attendants after 22-hundred of them signed up for severance payments. American's parent company filed for bankruptcy in November. The airline is trying to cut a billion dollars a year in labor costs.

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(CBS) - Companies are finally spending the near record heaps of cash they've been holding on to. In the past week, nearly a dozen big name companies including McDonald's and Microsoft, said they'll hike their dividend payouts to shareholders. In all, more than 400 large corporations are currently paying dividends, the most in 13 years.